Obafemi Awolowo University
Obafemi Awolowo University, formerly known as the University of Ife, is a federal university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, which was led by Samuel Ladoke Akintola. It was renamed "Obafemi Awolowo University" on 12 May 1987, by the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida-led military administration, in honour of Obafemi Awolowo, the first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria, who initially thought of the idea of establishing the university.
History
In 1951, with the adoption of a new constitution, major changes were made to elected legislators and regional Premiers in the regions. Because they saw education as a key driver of change and development, the new regional administrations gave an extension of basic and secondary education priority. A commission was established by the Federal Minister of Education in 1959 to study the nation's projected needs for university graduates between 1960 and 1980. The commission was headed by Cambridge lecturer Eric Ashby, a master at Clare College, Cambridge, and also included labour economist Frederick H. Harbison. The expectation of the commission's final report by the Western Region government was that the University of Ibadan would satisfy the needs of the Western Region, a position on which the federal government disagreed. Before a final report was submitted in October 1960, the Western government began preparations for the establishment of a university in the region.The decision to establish the University of Ife by the ruling Action Group party of the Western Region of Nigeria was in protest at the recommendations of the Ashby Report. The first Nigerian university was established in 1948 at Ibadan in the Western Region as an external college of the University of London. The needs of Nigeria, however, exceeded the productivity of the country's only university. In particular, the University of Ibadan had no faculty of engineering or technology, law school, pharmacy school or management training abilities. The Ashby Commission, which was set up by the British, was to review the tertiary education needs of the soon-to-be-independent nation of Nigeria. The government of the Western Region did not want to rely on federal universities or those of other regions to admit its numerous secondary school leavers. The University at Ife was founded as a rebuttal to the perceived politicization of higher education opportunities in Nigeria and the Western Region and was designed to fill the gaps in manpower needs.
In October 1960, the Ashby commission recommended additional regional universities in the northern and eastern regions of Nigeria, and another federal university in the Lagos protectorate, but none in the more educationally advanced Western Region, which had a "free and universal primary education" program. A minority report that was accepted by the government recommended a new university within the Western Region and facilities of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan, were provided to the region. In 1961, a vote establishing the Provisional Council of the university was passed by the Western Regional Assembly. The final site chosen, a of land, was donated by the people of Ile-Ife for the proposed university. The first financial grant provided for the university was £250,000 from the Western regional government.
Ibadan Campus
On 22 September 1962, the university was opened to 244 students at its temporary facilities, the previous College of Arts and Sciences, Ibadan. Some of the new students were previously at the College of Arts and Sciences, and some staff were recruited from University College, Ibadan, and from abroad. Oladele Ajose was nominated as the first Vice-Chancellor of the university, which began with faculties of agriculture, arts, economics and social studies, law and science. The style of administration of the university and faculties was similar to University College, Ibadan, and during its foundation, it established a relationship with the University of Wisconsin. Adverse political conditions within the region delayed the move from Ibadan to Ife.In February 1966, Lt-Col Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the Visitor of the University of Ife and the first Military Governor of the Western Region, appointed Hezekiah Oluwasanmi as the new Vice-Chancellor, and Chief TT Solaru as the pro-chancellor, and gave them money and orders to relocate to the permanent campus by October 1966. Fajuyi was killed at Ibadan in the military mutiny of July 1966 and did not witness the movement he orchestrated. Fajuyi Hall, a residential hall, was named to honour his contributions.
Move to Ife
The university's move to the new campus at Ile-Ife began in January 1967. The campus at Ife had the first faculty of pharmacy in West Africa, the first department of chemical engineering, and the first faculty of electronics components and electrical engineering. Its medical school started with an integrated curriculum and community orientation, which was later adopted by the World Health Organization, and a compulsory baccalaureate before gaining entrance to the clinical school, but this was later abandoned.Federal University
In 1975, a new military government introduced decrees making the University of Ife a Federal University.On 10 July 1999, members of the Black Axe Confraternity murdered the secretary-general of the students' union George Iwilade and several other student activists in the Obafemi Awolowo University massacre. Education Minister Tunde Adeniran issued a statement acknowledging the incident and saying the ministry will treat the case with "utmost concern".
Architecture
Israeli architect Arieh Sharon led the architectural planning of the university with a team that later included his son Eldar Sharon and Augustine Akhuemokhan Egbor of Lagos. The initial plan was to build three communities. A central campus with a high density would host the academic and administrative structures, the staff quarters with residential structures be dispersed for privacy, and students' residential halls were built.Central Campus
The road network within the university is numbered, the main entrance to the university is the 2.5 km Road One which provides visibility to two rocky hills and a main core. The core is a quadrangle consisting of the university's public structures: Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library, Secretariat, University Bookshop, Oduduwa Hall, and the Faculties of Arts, Education, Law, Administration and Social Sciences.The first structure to be completed in January 1967 was three blocks of four floors, which became the Humanities building; these blocks have interconnected walkways to the other Faculties within the quad. Upon completion, these structures resembled inverted pyramids or huge boats but the design was chosen because of the country's humid tropical climate that way, each floor protects the one below.
There are pedestrian walkways and pergolas around the campus, providing movement within offices around the quadrangle, and there are also piazzas, gardens and terraces. The quad is enclosed on each side by roads, beyond which are other faculty buildings.
The inner road on the southern end or front of the main core provides access to the student union building. Along road two are the computer science building, and the faculties of pharmacy and health sciences. The outer road at the north-western end of the quad, provides access to the modern languages building and the African traditional-designed structure housing the African studies department, a museum and an exhibition hall.